


Trap the Blame Right Back On You

by camwolfe



Series: The Water Can't Drown Me [4]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Homophobic Language, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-14
Updated: 2015-01-14
Packaged: 2018-03-07 12:57:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3174334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camwolfe/pseuds/camwolfe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Babysitting isn't all its cracked up to be, even when you're only looking after your siblings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trap the Blame Right Back On You

**Author's Note:**

> Well, it wouldn't be something of mine without the 'angst' tag on it. Okay guys, as usual, this won't really make sense if you haven't read the original story. Also, PLEASE be careful of the homophobic slur tag on this one. That tag is there for a reason PLEASE be cautious with this if it's a problem for you. 
> 
> Title is from Scars on 45 again, from a song called "Don't Say."

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, Mom,” Bucky said as he helped Grace out of the back of the car. “It’s only for the weekend. We’ll be fine.”

“I’ll give you some money for the groceries,” Winifred said desperately. She started to fumble in her purse.

“Mom!” Bucky protested. “No!”

Grace ran into the house without a second glance, screaming Steve’s name. Winifred seemed to relax a little.

“You’ll call me if anything goes wrong?” she asked. “I’ll keep my phone on at all times.”

“Yes,” Bucky said, a hint of exasperation in his voice. “I’ve taken care of all three of them before, Mom. A weekend isn’t going to be that much of a challenge.”

Winifred sighed. “I know, Bucky. I just… you shouldn’t have to do that, you know? But I called both your aunts and your uncle, no one can take them this weekend. And normally I’d just turn down the invitation to the conference, but this opportunity could be so good for my career – “

“Mom,” Bucky interrupted again. He gently pushed her around to the other side of the car. “We’ll be fine. I’ll call you if there’s a problem, but there won’t be. We have enough money for groceries. Steve even bought stuff to make a salad.”

Winifred smiled at that. “Oh, good! Remember, Rebecca likes green peppers but – “

“But not red ones, and Ethan doesn’t like any kind of peppers or onions and Grace will eat everything,” Bucky continued for her.

Winifred sighed again. “Okay, okay, I get it. I’m going. Kids! I’m leaving!”

Grace sped back out of the house to throw her arms around Winifred again before dashing back inside. Rebecca and Ethan had somehow already found an old basketball in the storage shed, and they waved as they ran up and down the road with it.

Bucky finally got his mother into her car, and he waved as she drove back down the street. He then grabbed the basketball away from Ethan and ran inside the house, with both kids chasing him and screaming.

“Steve!” Bucky shouted as he ran into the kitchen. “Catch!”

Steve didn’t even turned around, but just held his arm out and grabbed the basketball out of the air as Bucky tossed it to him.

“Nice,” Bucky said. Grace clapped eagerly from where she was sitting on the kitchen counter.

“Steve, come on!” Ethan protested as he slid into the kitchen behind Bucky. “Pass!”

“Nope,” Steve said. “No basketball in the house.”

“But Bucky just threw it to you!”

“And now Bucky is going to take the basketball and put it back in the shed,” Steve said in the same tone. Bucky sighed and took the ball back from him.

By the time he got back inside, all three kids were crowded around Steve at the kitchen counter. Steve had apparently given up on using one big salad bowl, and was now making small individual salads in each of the smaller bowls.

“Steve,” Bucky said as he walked into the kitchen again. “Why aren’t you just using the big salad bowl?”

“Because,” Steve said helplessly. “I was going to put the green peppers in but Ethan doesn’t like those, so I was making him his own salad without them. But then Rebecca didn’t want the red peppers in her salad, so I was making her a little salad without _those_.”

“Why does Grace need her own salad?” Bucky asked, frowning at her. She beamed back at him from her seat on the counter.

“Because she thought they were cute and wanted one of her own,” Steve told him. Bucky sighed.

“Aw, don’t complain, Bucky,” Rebecca said. “Mom always makes us eat the stuff we don’t like. Steve says we only have to eat the stuff we actually like. And we even get to choose our own salad dressing!”

“That’s because Steve apparently can’t say no to any of you,” Bucky told her as he got the salad dressings out of the fridge. “He’s weak.”

“Nah, it’s because he’s nice,” Grace said happily. “Thanks, Steve!”

All the kids grabbed their salad bowls and ran out to the table. Bucky wanted to tell Steve that he didn’t have to cater to their every whim, but Steve had a ridiculous smile on his face. Bucky decided that the lecture could wait until later.

“So,” Bucky said once everyone had gotten settled at the table. “How’s school going?”

All three kids groaned.

“Bucky,” Rebecca said. “That’s a boring grown-up question.”

“Well, I’m a boring grown-up and I want to know how school is going,” Bucky told her. Steve laughed.

Rebecca sighed. “It’s fine. Oh, I got the best mark in the class on our science projects!”

Bucky grinned at her. “That’s awesome.”

Rebecca beamed back at him.

“I found a little baby rabbit on the playground yesterday!” Grace said eagerly. “I picked him up and put him in my coat, but Miss Ryan made me go put him back outside when she saw him.”

“You aren’t supposed to touch wild animals, Grace,” Rebecca said loftily.

“He was cold!” Grace protested. “I wanted to make sure he was warm!”

“I’m sure you did,” Bucky said hastily, trying to avoid a fight from breaking out.

“Did you know that rabbits can change colour in the winter to blend into their surroundings?” Steve said helpfully.

“Really?” Grace asked, her eyes wide.

“Yep,” Steve told her. The conversation derailed into a discussion of the various attributes of rabbits.

Bucky gently kicked Steve under the table and raised his eyebrows at him. “Thanks, rabbit whisperer.”

Steve made a face at him.

“Ethan,” Bucky said after another few minutes of rabbit discussion. “You didn’t say answer the question about school.”

“I don’t w _anna_ answer the question about school,” Ethan snapped. “I hate school and it’s boring and you can’t make me talk about it.”

Bucky raised his eyebrows at him. “Fine, then you don’t have to.”

Ethan looked taken aback at Bucky’s dismissal of his anger, but he frowned and went back to eating his salad. Steve caught Bucky’s eye over the table, and Bucky shrugged.

The rest of dinner passed without incident, and Bucky sent all three kids off to pick a board game while he and Steve cleaned up the dishes.

“What’s up with Ethan?” Steve asked quietly as he washed the plates off. “I’ve never seen him act like this before.”

Bucky sighed and started rinsing the salad bowl. “No idea. My mom said that he’s gotten into three fights in the last month, and he’s gonna get suspended or expelled if he keeps doing it.”

Steve frowned. “Is he being bullied or something?”

“Apparently not,” Bucky said as he tossed the forks into the dishwasher. “Mom talked to his teachers, the principal, the lunch supervisors, everyone. They all said that Ethan just keeps on picking on the other kids until they get mad and hit him.”

“What?” Steve asked. “That doesn’t sound like him at all.”

“That’s what I said. But it’s the school’s word against my mom’s, and I think she believes them. Apparently he hit Rebecca so hard the other day that she fell off the deck and onto the lawn.”

“Jeez,” Steve muttered. “Are you gonna try and talk to him?”

Bucky shrugged. “I mean… I can try, but what am I supposed to say?”

Steve looked at him helplessly, and Grace chose that moment to run back into the kitchen.

“We’re playing Catan!” she announced happily, holding the box above her head.

Bucky raised his eyebrows. “Do you know how to play it?”

“No,” Grace said. “But you can be on my team, and you know how to play.”

“All right, then,” Bucky said. Grace grabbed his arm and towed him back out to the living room.

The game went well until Rebecca built two new roads and cut off Ethan’s road.

“Rebecca!” Ethan shouted. “You can’t do that!”

“Yes I can,” Rebecca protested. “Bucky! Tell him I can do that!”

“She can,” Bucky said. “It’s part of the rules, dude.”

“Well, that’s a dumb rule,” Ethan announced. He folded his arms. “I don’t want to play anymore.”

“You don’t have to,” Bucky told him. Ethan glared at him and stormed off to sit on the couch, his arms still crossed.

Bucky and Rebecca finished the rest of the game in peace. Steve and Grace had started off by playing with them, but Grace had been more interested in building a little city out of her pieces and Steve was helping her.

“We’re gonna watch a movie before you guys go to bed,” Bucky told Ethan as Steve took the girls into the kitchen to make popcorn. “Any preferences?”

“No,” Ethan said. “I don’t want to watch a movie.”

“You don’t have to,” Bucky said calmly. He flopped down on the couch and grabbed the remote. “You can do whatever you want.”

“There’s nothing to do here.”

“Well, then, sit in the corner and glare at me,” Bucky told him. Ethan scowled and did exactly that.

Ethan was facing away from the tv, and he frowned as everyone piled on the couch facing him.

“You sure you don’t want to watch?” Bucky asked, waving the popcorn bowl at him. “We’ve got popcorn.”

“No.”

“Fine,” Rebecca snapped from where she was snuggled between Bucky and Steve. “Then don’t.”

“Fine,” Ethan said back to her. Bucky sighed.

Bucky pretended not to notice how Ethan scooted a little closer to them once the movie started. He moved a little more every few minutes, until he was sitting pressed up against the couch. After another few minutes, Bucky took the popcorn bowl away from Steve and handed it down to Ethan without saying a word.

Ethan looked up at him with a frown, but took the popcorn bowl and started eating.

 

By the time the movie ended, all three kids were tired enough that they went upstairs to bed without complaints. Ethan refused to say goodnight, but at least he didn’t complain too much about having to share the guest room with his sisters.

“Ugh,” Bucky groaned once they were back in their own bedroom. He flopped facedown on the bed. “I don’t get why Ethan hates me now.”

“He doesn’t hate you,” Steve said from the other side of the room. “He’s angry as hell, for sure, but I don’t think he’s angry at you.”

“Well, he’s acting like it,” Bucky said into the pillow.

“Give him some time,” Steve said as he came to sit next to him. “Maybe he’s just stressed because your mom’s out of town.”

“Maybe,” Bucky allowed.

 

Ethan seemed to be in a better mood the next morning. They made it all the way through breakfast without any arguments, and Bucky took Grace and Ethan down to the beach to check out the tide pools. Rebecca opted to stay behind with Steve, mostly because she hated getting sand in her shoes.

Grace and Ethan were poking at a little fish that they’d found in one of the tide pools when Bucky’s phone buzzed. He opened a text from Steve that just read “Come back.”

“Come on, guys!” Bucky called over his shoulder as he turned and started to jog back up the stairs that led to the house. Ethan and Grace followed with only a few complaints.

Steve was sitting morosely at the table when Bucky walked in. Rebecca was nowhere to be seen.

“What happened?” Bucky asked, looking around.

“She’s upstairs,” Steve said. He actually looked pretty upset, which was rare for him. “She dropped her water glass and it broke, but before I could say anything she ran upstairs and shut the bedroom door.”

Bucky groaned and put his head in his hands.

“I’m sorry,” Steve said desperately. “I didn’t know if I should go after her or leave her alone or – “

“Steve,” Bucky interrupted. “It’s fine, don’t apologize. I’ll go talk to her. Can you help Ethan and Grace get lunch ready?”

Bucky left the three of them downstairs and went up to the second floor. The door to the guest bedroom was firmly shut.

“Bec?” Bucky called gently. “You in there?”

A sniff was all the answer he needed.

“I’m going to come in, okay?” Bucky called. When there was no reply, he gently opened the door anyway.

Bucky closed the door behind him and walked around to the other side of the large bed. Sure enough, Rebecca was huddled next to the nightstand against the wall.

“Hey – “ Bucky started, but Rebecca scrambled forward and jumped at him, throwing her arms around his shoulders.

“I’m sorry,” she sobbed into his chest. “I didn’t mean to break the glass, I didn’t mean to, it was an accident – “

“I know,” Bucky said hurriedly. “It’s okay, Bec, it’s okay. Nobody’s mad at you.”

Rebecca started crying again. “But I broke it, and Steve looked upset and there was glass everywhere – “

“He was probably just worried that it had cut you,” Bucky said hastily. “Steve’s not mad, I promise.”

“You’re sure?” Rebecca asked, her voice tiny.

“Absolutely,” Bucky said firmly. He got back to his feet and took her hand, pulling her behind him. She followed him back down the stairs.

“Steve?” Bucky asked as he pulled Rebecca into the kitchen. “Are you upset with Rebecca?”

“No!” Steve said immediately. He was standing at the kitchen counter with Grace and Ethan, but he abandoned the grilled cheese and hurried over to stand in front of Rebecca. “I’m definitely not mad, I was just worried that you’d gotten hurt.”

Rebecca was still hiding behind Bucky slightly, but she wiped at her eyes and shook her head. “I’m okay.”

Relief flooded Steve’s face. “I promise I’m not mad. I don’t care if any of my stuff gets broken, it’s all replaceable, okay? I just worry when people get hurt.”

Rebecca still looked worried, but Ethan waved a piece of cheese at her. “We’re making grilled cheeses!”

“Do you want one?” Steve asked her earnestly. “You can have whatever you want with it.”

Rebecca considered this. “Could I have pickles?”

“Definitely,” Steve said. “One grilled cheese with pickles, coming right up.”

He went back over to the counter, and Rebecca finally pulled out of Bucky’s grip and hurried over to stand next to Ethan.

Bucky sighed and rubbed his face again. Another crisis averted.

 

Ethan’s mood started to turn sour later that afternoon. He didn’t want to go to the park, so Steve had to stay home with him while Bucky took the girls. He didn’t want to do his homework, so Bucky told him that he wouldn’t get dessert after dinner if he didn’t. That, of course, only made Ethan more angry. He didn’t want to help with the dishes, he refused to eat the healthy parts of his dinner, and he knocked Grace’s glass of milk off the table on purpose.

“Ethan,” Bucky said as he cleaned the milk off the floor. “Can you please go get another cloth to help clean this up.”

“No,” Ethan said stubbornly. Steve returned to the table with another glass of milk for Grace.

“Why not?” Bucky asked, exasperated. “You knocked it off, you should help clean it up.”

“I don’t have to,” Ethan said with a scowl.

“Well, you do have to, actually,” Bucky muttered.

“Why?”

“Because I told you to!” Bucky snapped. His patience wasn’t great on the best of days, and it was even shorter now.

“You can’t make me do anything,” Ethan said. “You aren’t Dad.”

Bucky groaned. “No, I’m definitely not. But you’re in my house, which means I get to tell you what to do.”

“This isn’t your house, it’s Steve’s,” Ethan snapped back.

“It’s both of ours!” Bucky said as he walked back into the kitchen to throw the cloth into the sink. “Ethan, for god’s sake, just help me clean up the damn milk.”

“No!” Ethan shouted, his anger escalating into a full blown tantrum. “Shut up, Bucky! Stop telling me what to do!”

Bucky walked back out to the table and stared at him. “Don’t tell me to shut up, Ethan.”

“Shut up!” Ethan yelled at him, his voice somehow getting even louder. “Just shut up!”

“Ethan!” Bucky said. “Just listen to me – “

“No!” Ethan shouted. “I don’t have to listen to a stupid fag like you!”

The room went silent. Bucky was pretty sure that Grace and Rebecca didn’t know what that word meant, but they definitely knew it was bad.

Bucky stared at Ethan. Ethan met his eyes for a split second and then looked down at the floor. His hands were clenched into fists at his sides as he stood next to the table.

“Steve,” Bucky said after a long, painful moment. “Can you take the girls down to the beach for a while?”

Steve didn’t say anything as he quietly got up from the table and led the way to the door. Grace and Rebecca trailed after him silently.

Bucky waited until he heard the front door close behind them before he turned back to stare at Ethan. Ethan was still glaring at the floor, his hands shaking slightly.

Bucky pulled out a chair from the table and sat down.

“Ethan,” he said after another few minutes of silence. “Ethan, look at me.”

He did so, but only for a moment before he glanced back down at the floor again.

“Do you understand what that word means?” Bucky asked, trying to keep his voice as calm and steady as possible.

Ethan nodded slowly. “I… um, I think so.”

“Do you understand that it’s a very horrible thing to say to someone?”

Ethan didn’t say anything to that, but Bucky could see his face starting to crumple slightly.

“Why’d you say it to me?” Bucky asked him quietly.

Ethan scrubbed his hand over his face. “Cause I was mad.”

Bucky sighed. “Ethan, even if you’re mad that’s not something you should say.”

“I know,” Ethan mumbled. Tears were starting to run down his face.

Bucky sighed again and leaned back in his chair. “Did Dad used to call me that a lot? When I wasn’t there?”

Ethan nodded, and then started to cry openly.

“It wasn’t right that he said that in front of you, and it wasn’t right that he said that about me. But that doesn’t change the fact that you shouldn’t say things like that either.”

“I know,” Ethan said miserably.

Bucky rubbed his face. He wasn’t cut out to deal with shit like this. “Look, Ethan, I know that you didn’t mean it, okay? But other people aren’t going to know that, and you could really hurt someone.”

“I know,” Ethan said again. He scrubbed at his eyes, still looking at the floor. “I know, I know. I’m sorry, Bucky, I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry – “

Bucky reached out and nudged him gently. “I know that. But you’re gonna have to apologize to Steve too. I think you probably upset him a little.”

Ethan started to cry again. “I didn’t… I didn’t want to, I was just mad.”

Bucky finally gave in and reached out. He pulled Ethan closer to him, letting Ethan sob into his shirt.

 

By the time Steve and the girls came back from the beach, Ethan was curled up on the couch under a pile of blankets. Bucky was sitting next to him, flipping through channels on the tv. Bucky nudged Ethan, and Ethan immediately scrambled up. He grabbed Steve’s hand and dragged him into the kitchen, and Bucky heard them talking quietly. Rebecca and Grace still looked a little worried, but Bucky made sure to smile reassuringly at them. He let them pick the movie for the evening.

Ethan was quiet for the rest of the evening, but he seemed a little calmer. All three of the kids went to bed without complaint, and Bucky and Steve crashed soon after they did.

 

Light was shining through the bedroom windows when Bucky woke up the next morning. He frowned sleepily and rolled over, turning his phone on to check the time.

It was already ten o’clock. Bucky stared at his phone and blinked again. There was no way it was actually ten o’clock. Rebecca was always awake around six, and even Grace was usually up by seven.

Bucky scrambled out of bed, nearly tripping on the tangle of blankets. He thumped down the stairs, heart racing.

He skidded to a stop at the bottom of the stairs.

“Good morning,” Steve said pleasantly.

He was sitting at the table with all three of the kids. They all had canvases spread out in front of them, and there were jars and bottles of paint scattered everywhere.

“Bucky!” Grace said without looking up. “Come see my painting. It’s very beautiful.”

“Jesus,” Bucky muttered, stumbling over to the table. “It was so quiet, I thought the zombie apocalypse had happened or something.”

“I would have woken you up if the zombie apocalypse had happened,” Steve said. He looked affronted. “I’d never just leave you behind to fend for yourself.”

“What if you’d already been bitten, though?” Bucky asked as he came to stand next to the table. “There’d be no time to come save me. It’d be tragic.”

“Stop talking about zombies,” Rebecca ordered. “I’m painting flowers and flowers are a lot nicer than zombies.”

“That’s actually really good, Bec,” Bucky said, glancing over her painting. “Yours too, Gracie.”

Grace looked up and beamed at him.

“Ethan?” Bucky asked. “What’s yours supposed to be?”

Ethan frowned down at his canvas, which was covered in random colours in no particular pattern or shape. “It’s modern art. That’s what Steve said it looks like.”

“You could probably sell that for a few thousand dollars,” Bucky mused.

“Really?” Ethan asked, delighted.

“Yep,” Steve said. He had paint in his hair, and his arms were covered with it too. He was carefully working on his latest painting. “That kind of thing sells pretty well.”

“Hmm,” Ethan said.

“Your turn,” Steve said to Bucky. He handed him another canvas and a paintbrush.

Bucky sighed and dragged another chair up to the table. “I’m not as good as this as the rest of you are.”

“Just do modern art like me,” Ethan said. “It’s super easy.”

Bucky grabbed a paintbrush.

 

By the time Winifred got to the house late that evening, the kids were all sitting happily on the couch watching Netflix. Bucky helped Winifred carry their bags back out to the car while he filled her in on the events of the weekend. Winifred cried a little and then swore to make an appointment with the school on Monday to talk about Ethan’s behaviour, and maybe set up some counselling sessions for him.

“Bye Bucky!” Grace said happily as she bounced by him and into the car. “Bye Steve!”

Rebecca got in after her, but stuck her head out the window again. “You guys are coming to my ballet recital on Thursday, right?”

“Of course,” Bucky and Steve said at the same time. Rebecca gave them two thumbs up and sat back into the car.

Ethan had insisted on carrying his own bag out to the car. He tossed it in the trunk and then ran back around to give Bucky a quick hug before jumping into the front seat.

They waved as the car pulled down the road before they headed back inside.

“I slept for so long last night,” Bucky said as he collapsed on the couch. “But I’m still so fucking tired.”

“You know, these are actually pretty good,” Steve said as he looked at their paintings from this morning. “We can drop them by your mom’s house when they’re dry.”

“Okay,” Bucky said, his face in the pillows. “But maybe a few hours from now. Can we just take a little break first?”

Steve collapsed into the chair beside him, closing his eyes too. “Okay. Maybe just a little break.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, like always! Let me know what you think, I love hearing from you and I love hearing your thoughts. These little fics take a weirdly long time to write, but the feedback I get on them is so great that I just can't stop because I am WEAK. 
> 
> I am [here](http://cameronwolfe.tumblr.com), and my current fic project is [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2799482/chapters/6284033).


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